“Summer Time” Performed by the Chongqing Youth Theater Gets on the Stage of Shakespear Festival in Texas, US

□ Article/Journalist Yang Yan

“Summer Time” Performed by the Chongqing Youth Theater Gets on the Stage of Shakespear Festival in Texas, US

□ Article/Journalist Yang Yan

Chongqing Summer Time Theater, the only guest in American Professional Theater Festival

Summer Time Theater, composed of several college students, is the first independent youth theater in Chongqing. It was founded in 2006. Now there are two main creators. Gaoya Xiaozi, who endeavors to enter in the highest realm of Chinese Drama, majors in Chinese Drama Management for PhD. Zhang Shuzhi is a director & scriptwriter of Chongqing dramas, fi lms and a musician, a specialized mentor in Television and Movie Director Department, Literature and Journalism College of CTBU. Under their leadership, the Theater has assembled a group of youth drama lovers who have persisted in giving support to the professional drama.

The Theater, for the fi rst time, was invited to participate in Shakespeare Festival in Texas, US in June, 2009.The Missing Notes of Hamlet, a play of Shakespeare reorganized by the Theater had gained highappreciation in Texas. Costumes used in the drama were also collected permanently by the organizer of Shakespeare Festival in Texas, US. In 2014, to honor the outstanding contribution of Gaoya Xiaozi and Zhang Shuzhi on promoting cultural communication between China and the United States for the past five years, Gilge municipal government in Texas, US named the day “July 23” as “Gaoya Xiaozi Day” and“Zhang Shuzhi Day”. Organizing committee of the Drama Festival also added the unit “Night for Chinese Drama”.

In July this year, it is the ninth time for Summer Time Youth Theater to strike a pose on the stage of Shakespeare Festival in Texas, US.

All-English performance shows solid foundation

Arriving in the destination (Texas, US) means that the busy preparation is about to start. According to the schedule formulated before starting, members of the Theater are into the working state quickly.Zhang Shuzhi, as the director, is busy in matters such as finishing the script, making music, directing and designing, etc. Gaoya Xiaozi, as the producer, is busy in stage design and implementing the theatrical property and costumes.

In order to offer learning opportunity for more young actors who love drama, Summer Time Youth Theater absorbs a group of young actors this year. For these actors from Chongqing who stand on the stage of the Festival for the fi rst time, it is an honor to perform on the same stage with the selected experts from more than 50 states and a test on their competence.Zhang Shuzhi says, “Matters of a drama such as performing rhyme, characteristics of characters, story plots, character relations and etc. all rely on “saying” or“singing” in English by the actors. And the performance can interpret accurately by impressive and alive acting.” Zhang also says that actors can not perform on the stage until their skills of lines reach a solid level.

Exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Western Drama

In accordance with the regulations, every year the performed repertoire in Night for Chinese Drama must be a new original stage play. The fi rst draft of the script shall be fi nished in Chongqing. After the Theater arrives in US, both actors from China and the United States conduct exchange, study and rehearsal, and design the stage lighting. It is worth mentioning that Steven Wyman is the teacher responsible for exchange class

and the artist participating in the drama festival. And Steven Wyman has repeatedly played different roles in Shakespeare's plays. He is the former television producer and director in US NBC television, and acquires 10 Emmy nominations. In addition, Jack Lash,who worked in the Broadway and the Titan Theater,succeeded in portraying the role of Edwin Booth in the world's fi rst public performance.

When the reporter asked experience about the exchange, He Yi, as the theater designer and the actor who performs in the United States for several times, replied, “teachers and our actors form partner randomly, which can spark a lot of inspirations. During the demonstration of the puppet show, when our actors and teachers performed a warm segment, eyes contacts and movements between them moved the people into tears in the absence of the lines.”

“We have seen that the whole process of how a big show changes stage scene. Two container trailers loading theatrical scenery park in the backstage, and the actors work in an orderly manner. The big show may require three days to arrange a large number of stage hard scenes at home, but it only takes 90 minutes in completing all the layout here. In terms of this, it is worth learning. ” Zhang Shuzhi said.

Local original drama gets on the international stage

From the beginning of 2010, the Summer Time Youth Theater has performed Chongqing 1937, Ambition Soaring to Sky, Richard III, Study on Green Words,Withstanding Ghost, Husband in Army and other works in Shakespeare Festival in Texas, US. Among these works, Chongqing 1937 and Ambition Soaring to Sky are committed to telling the story of Chongqing. But this time the performed repertoire is Story First•Beauty of Surprises in Urban, which focuses on a global problem— human attitudes towards beauty and ugliness.

The story unfolds from a magical red dress. A female college student was bullied by other students due to obesity, and then she found a red dress in the school clothing warehouse. She discovered the magic of the skirt, that is, making the ugly girl a good fi gure, which led to great change on her life and mindset.

Eventually, the story ends in tragedy. “This is a story intertwining darkness and horror. Theater atmosphere is some appalling. One of the most fascinating thriller is completed by the light, sound rendering and the actor's silent performance. The actor, who performs thefemale college student, with her hands and feet bound is required to act the struggle for two minutes in a small house. During this period, the actor needs to act her mood from the verge of collapse to complete collapse until she commits suicide.” Zhang Shuzhi introduces the wonderful part of the drama.

At the end of the show, the audience applauded for a long time. “An old dramatist thinks that we have done a bold thing because our story reflects a lot of social problems in the globe, which indicate the most dark side of human nature. But this drama is not so popular as love drama and comedy, and it is easy to result in disgust and bad comments from the audience.He admires that we can bravely bear such a big risk to produce such drama. ” The old artist's comments left Xiaozi a deep impression. He not only uttered the original intention of the drama but also gave actors of Summer Time Theater great appreciation and encouragement.

Chongqing literary and historical expert talks about past events of Chongqing

Summer Time Theater invited Xiao Nengzhu, a Chongqing literary and historical expert, to accompany all the way. His appearance gave theater fans of Night for Chinese Drama a chance to know more about Chongqing. Before the repertoire was officially performed, he made a 10-minute speech for the audience with a relax and humorous tone. He represented the changes of life of people in Chongqing from the period of its port opening.

Mr. Xiao's speech talked about the initial pursuit of living materials with the theme of mutual penetration between Chinese and Western materials, and paved the way for the performance of Surprises in Urban. His speech, which was awarded the certi fi cate of speech by the host, won the audience prolonged applause.

Keep chasing dream and move on in next year

Although this is a non-pro fi t show, Chinese actors back to Chongqing has harvested more wealth than money.After arduous endeavor for several years, they have cultivated a calm mindset and concerns more about the development of Chinese drama. Xiaozi says,“Nine consecutive performances make us see more clearly the gap between Chinese and world drama.” Xiaozi also says despite nowadays China has a greater in fl uence on the international stage, Chinese drama still has a long way to go and a spacious room to develop.

(Pictures are provided by the respondents.)